1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to the field of communications, and in particular, to the regeneration of SONET signals to replicate original section and line overhead.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) nodes transfer user data in frames. The SONET frames include overhead information in addition to the user data. The SONET nodes alter the overhead information in the SONET frames during transfer. Between two SONET nodes, it may be desired to leave the SONET overhead unaltered. Unfortunately, this requires installing a direct optical fiber link between the two SONET nodes, so that there are not any intervening SONET nodes to alter the overhead information. This problem becomes acute when a SONET ring needs to be closed by connecting the two SONET nodes, but installing a direct optical fiber link between the two SONET nodes is too costly.